Yes, I can afford the mortgage alone if needed… but paying that, in addition to getting the units ready for new tenants could be pretty pricy and I may have to pick up extra shifts/grey hairs in the process.

One of the hardest mind shifts is to go from "consumer" to "investor."

Thanks in advance for your local perspective!

Hope this is a good read for you and that you share your perspective with those of us who are still learning.Thanks in advance and Cheers

So, by the time we got our hands on the property, it had been 4 months from when we initially analyzed and went under contract and the market had drastically shifted for the worse. 

If the market shifts, you'll start seeing good deals again in 1-2 years.

Can anyone bring some perspective to that point?

Especially if you bought over the summer. it’s a great time to prepare and study, but this market appears to be in the early stages of some massive shifts.

If that's really what you want to do, be careful of a potential loss of total property value from a retail perspective. 

Dadi for a bit of background, I'm a RE investor, and I have a long background in doctoral-level statistics and data analysis.Here's the issue from my perspective: most data that's relevant to REI (e.g.; employment trends, appreciation/depreciation history, housing supply, etc.) is relatively macro (it often covers at least an entire metro area), but real estate is hyper local.